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Summary

Oceania is characterized by thousands of islands and archipelagoes amidst the vast expanse of the Pacific. Although it is one of the few truly oceanic habitats occupied permanently by humankind, surprisingly little research has been done on the maritime dimension of Pacific history. The People of the Sea attempts to fill this gap by combining neglected historical and scientific material to provide the first synthetic study of ocean-people interaction in the region from 1770 to 1870.

Author Biography

Paul D'Arcy teaches and writes on Pacific, environmental, and Asia-Pacificconflict history at Australian National University.

Table of Contents

Illustrations

p. IX

Abbreviations

p. XI

Acknowledgments

p. XIII

Introduction: The All-Encompassmg Sea

p. 1

The Oceanic Environment

p. 5

Local Worlds: The Sea in Everyday Life

p. 27

Communication and Relative Isolation in the Sea of Islands

p. 50

Seafaring in Oceania

p. 70

Fluid Frontiers: The Sea as a Contested Space

p. 98

Across the Horizon: Interactions with the Outside World

p. 118

Connected by the Sea: Toward a Regional History of the Western Caroline Islands